In calls hosted by CBP on the last day of NAFTA, and the first day of USMCA, trade professionals were anxious to understand what they should change in paperwork.

In calls hosted by CBP on the last day of NAFTA, and the first day of USMCA, trade professionals were anxious to understand what they should change in paperwork.

SiriusXM’s 360L interactive system will debut on 2021 Ford F-150 trucks and be featured on all future vehicles with Ford’s Sync 4 connected car platform, said SiriusXM Friday. The 360L system gives listeners access to more than 10,000 hours of on-demand content. It will be available on F-150s by year-end, SiriusXM said.

SiriusXM’s 360L interactive system will debut on 2021 Ford F-150 trucks and be featured on all future vehicles with Ford’s Sync 4 connected car platform, said SiriusXM Friday. The 360L system gives listeners access to more than 10,000 hours of on-demand content. It will be available on F-150s by year-end, SiriusXM said.

SiriusXM’s 360L interactive system will debut on 2021 Ford F-150 trucks and be featured on all future vehicles with Ford’s Sync 4 connected car platform, said SiriusXM Friday. The 360L system gives listeners access to more than 10,000 hours of on-demand content. It will be available on F-150s by year-end, SiriusXM said.

House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon and other Republicans introduced a legislative package Thursday containing the language from 26 existing and new bills aimed at streamlining broadband deployments. It follows House Democrats’ proposal (see 2006220054) for $100 billion in broadband funding, contained in both the Moving Forward Act infrastructure legislative package (HR-2) and the stand-alone Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-7302). Walden and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., released a COVID-19 broadband legislative framework last week (see 2006190062). President Donald Trump’s administration said in an NTIA-led American Broadband Initiative progress report it made progress in increasing rural broadband access.

Opposing comments to a Team Telecom recommendation to partially reject an application for a license for the Pacific Light Cable Network, for an undersea fiber cable connecting the U.S. to Hong Kong and elsewhere (see 2006170055), are due to the FCC Aug. 6. GU Holdings, Edge USA and Pacific Light Data may file, said Monday's FCC International Bureau Telecom and Analysis Division letter. Team Telecom's reply is due Sept. 8. An FCBA CLE discussed Team Telecom Monday (see 2006220043).

Opposing comments to a Team Telecom recommendation to partially reject an application for a license for the Pacific Light Cable Network, for an undersea fiber cable connecting the U.S. to Hong Kong and elsewhere (see 2006170055), are due to the FCC Aug. 6. GU Holdings, Edge USA and Pacific Light Data may file, said Monday's FCC International Bureau Telecom and Analysis Division letter. Team Telecom's reply is due Sept. 8. An FCBA CLE discussed Team Telecom Monday (see 2006220043).

A Team Telecom rejection of an international submarine cable system landing location comes late in the planning process and would send an applicant back to "square one," SubCom Managing Director-Sales David Robles told an FCBA CLE Monday. Finding a new landing location would require complex planning and negotiations, including re-engineering a submarine network and adjusting the needed length of fiber cable, he said to our Q&A: "It has huge implications for the cable system." The FCC opened a comment cycle Monday on Team Telecom recommendations on a submarine cable landing location application (see 2006220029). Scott Shefferman,Verizon senior managing associate general counsel-international legal, called such uncertainty a top challenge, along with overall uncertainty in changing executive branch review regulations (see 2006170055) and recent changes in FCC submarine cable outage requirements (see 1912270049). Katie Bristow Myers, senior attorney for Microsoft's Azure Networking, said national security changes at Team Telecom, plus broader cybersecurity threats, are among her top worries. She's concerned how quickly the company, a so-called hyperscaler, can replace the capacity it lit up with COVID-19. "We ate about two years of capacity in two months," she said, and that requires new plant construction, though she's pleased to see how stable networks in the U.S. have remained. Recently, traditional competitors banded together to build international submarine cable systems, she said. Ulises Pin of Morgan Lewis said the economic downturn could slow availability of securities financing long-term projects. Verizon's Shefferman said governance and maintenance agreements must last 25 to 30 years and should be written to survive any party's bankruptcy. Kent Bressie of Harris Wiltshire said the submarine cable industry must continue to educate governments, and protecting submarine cables requires support from fishermen. As climate change affects how and where fishing vessels operate, cables on the ocean floor face new risks, he said. Wind energy deployment can interfere with submarine cable systems without proper interindustry coordination, said Catherine Creese, director-Naval Seafloor Cable Protection Office, Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

Stakeholders sought clear FCC guidance to Team Telecom, in comments posted through Friday in docket 16-155. In April, the FCC ordered a docket refresh on an 2016 NPRM (see 2004270017), after President Donald Trump issued an executive order formalizing the review process and setting up an executive branch committee (see 2004060071). The FCC should work with that committee to develop standardized questions along industry-specific lines "to promote transparency, certainty and prompt review of applications involving foreign ownership," NAB said. "Standard questions will reduce transaction costs to applicants and speed review at a time when access to capital is critical." T-Mobile warned if the FCC doesn't impose more certainty, problems associated with former interagency reviews "could continue forward with the new committee, potentially discouraging U.S. companies from accessing foreign capital or putting those that do at a competitive disadvantage," it said. "Make clear that only applications involving new or materially changed foreign ownership will be referred to this new Committee for review. The Commission should also establish mechanisms and deadlines around the commencement of the shot clock and broader review process to safeguard against extensive delay." International providers including GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos America and Hawaiki Submarine Cable USA asked for "predictable timeframes for Committee review of all Commission applications, particularly submarine cable landing license applications," and to "establish standard questions for the Committee’s initial review, and accelerate the process for entities in U.S. ally countries." The committee's first recommendation to FCC involved undersea cables (see 2006170055). Uncertainty and lack of transparency in the Team Telecom review process likely "delayed and deterred domestic and foreign investment in cables landing in the United States, and in the long run could contribute to decisions to land international submarine cables" in Canada or Mexico, Incompas said. Clarity and certainty has long been lacking in transaction reviews, CTA said. "Their assurance has become even more urgent in the current environment, in which the range and degree of national security threats have increased dramatically, potentially resulting in a greater number of transactions and applications requiring review."